June 22, 2020. Leisure Products International Inc. has announced it will add a second shift at its Johnson City facility hiring between 100 and 150 new employees within the next few weeks.
LPI Chief Financial Officer Joe Cronin said the new jobs will pay between $14.50 and $18 an hour, which will vary depending on the individual employee’s department. The company, which makes hot tubs and tanning beds, currently employs almost 270 people at its facility at 506 Twin Oaks Drive.
Cronin said the new hiring push is occurring as the company sees increased demand for its products, adding that people seem to be doing more work on their homes because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Alicia Summers, vice president of business development with the Northeast Tennessee Regional Economic Partnership, said it appears the manufacturing sector hasn’t been hit as hard by COVID-19 as the service or hospitality industries.
She said the 100 to 150 new jobs are in addition to about 200 jobs LPI has committed to create in the region as part of a payment in lieu of taxes agreement. At the end of its last report, Summers said LPI had created 157 of those 200 jobs.
